Orthopedic appliance

ABSTRACT

An improved orthopedic appliance having an adjustable length and provided with tapered sockets for cone locks for receiving cone members attached to anchor bars and rotatable in various positions to provide proper positioning of a patient&#39;&#39;s legs and hips so that orthopedic defects may be corrected.

United States Patent Craig Oct. 24, 1972 [54] ORTHOPEDIC APPLIANCE [72] lnventon' William A. Craig, P.O. Box 81,

Angwin, Calif. 94508 [22] Filed: Aug. 25, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 174,620

[52] US. Cl. ..l28/80 A [5 1] Int. Cl. ..A61f 3/00 [58] Field of Search ..l28/80 A, 80 R, 80 B, 80 J,

128/80 F, 80 G, 84 A, 87 R, 87 C [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,588,411 3/1952 Robinson ..l28/80 A Moran 1 28/80 A Morgan ..128/80 A Primary Examiner-Richard A. Gaudet Assistant Examiner-J. Yasko Att0rney-John Joseph Hall [57] ABSTRACT An improved orthopedic appliance having an adjustable length and provided with tapered sockets for cone locks for receiving cone members attached to anchor bars and rotatable in various positions to provide proper positioning of a patients legs and hips so that orthopedic defects may be corrected.

2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 1 ORTHOPEDIC APPLIANCE BACKGROUND OF-THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a new and improved orthopedic appliance for patients that provides improved positioning and adjustment'of a patients legs and hips.

2. Prior Art Applicant knows of no prior art features of this invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION- The new and improved orthopedic appliance provides a readily adjustable longitudinal bar length which is also capable of being easily and firmly secured into having the particular different positions. The orthopedic appliance is attached to a patients plaster cast by means of a pair of anchor bars, each embedded at one end into the patients cast.

Each of the other ends of the anchor barsis provided with a generally cone-shaped member that is received by a tapered socket contained in an anchor block member, which in turn is rotatably connected by a similar tapered socket that receives a similarly cone shaped member attached to each end of the longitudinal bars of the orthopedic appliance.

The cone shaped members are maintained inside the tapered sockets by cap screws inserted into openings at the bottom of the tapered sockets and threaded into threaded bores of the cone shaped members.

Unlocking of the cone shaped members is provided by a lock nut which is swedged onto the unthreaded grip portion of the cap screws so that turning the cap screw counterclockwise will unlock the cone member for re-positioning the orthopedic appliance spatially in any desired position for corrective rotation of a patients hips or for corrective spreading of a patients legs or both, while still permitting full rotation of the patients trunk and flexion of the patients upper body.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide an orthopedic appliance which can be easily and securely adjusted for different lengths. Another object of this invention is to provide an orthopedic appliance which will provide rapid and secure adjustment of rotation of a patients hips to correct the patients orthopedic defects, while still permitting rotation of the patients trunk and flexion of the patients upper body.

A further object of this invention is to provide an orthopedic appliance which will provide rapid and secure adjustment of spatial separation of a patients legs to correct the patients orthopedic defects, while still permitting rotation of the patients trunk and flexion of the patients upper body.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an orthopedic appliance with component parts that are readily unlocked for adjustment into a different locked position for correction of a patients orthopedic defects.

These and other objects will be more readily-understood by reference vto the following description and claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which FIG. 1 is a top plan view of an embodiment of the orthopedic appliance.

FIG. 2 is a view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, enlarged sectional view of a portion of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, enlarged sectional view of one end of the orthopedic appliance shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary exploded view of one end of the orthopedic appliance as shown in FIG. 2.

The orthopedic appliance 10 has two longitudinal generally flat bar members 12 preferably of equal,

length, each being provided with a plurality of spaced holes 14 located lengthwise in the middle of the bar members 12. The bar members 12 are superimposed and connected together longitudinally to form a connector bar by nuts 16 and bolts 18 in holes 14, which permit easy and secure adjustment of the length of the orthopedic appliance 10. I

A truncatedcone member 20 having its top and bottom preferably parallel to each other, is welded or otherwise rigidly attached at its bottom to the end of each bar member 12, with the cone member 20 having its taper converging away from the bar member 12. The taper of the cone members 20 may vary from 3 to 7 from the vertical along the longitudinal axis. Each of the cone members 20 has a longitudinal internally threaded opening 22. i

The orthopedic appliance 10 has a pair of anchor block members 24, each having a pair of tapered sockets 26 for receiving a cone member 20. The tapered sockets 26 are located in their respective block members 24 so that the longitudinal axis of one is in a plane which is at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the other.

The cone members 20 are maintained in position inside the tapered sockets 26 by being threaded on cap screws 28 which are inserted through openings 30 at the bottoms of tapered sockets 26. Lock nuts 32 are swedged onto the unthreaded grip portions 34 of the cap screws 28 to secure the cap screws in position. Cap screws 28 are provided with a locking socket head 36 for locking and unlocking with the use of a suitable wrench. V

The orthopedic appliance 10 is also provided with a pair of anchor bar members 38 which are generally L- shaped in form and with a degree angle between each leg, preferably. Each anchor bar member 38 has one of its legs provided with a truncated cone member 20 attached similarly to those of the longitudinal bar members 12.

The anchor bar members 38 are preferably formed with one leg longer than the other for embedding the ends into a patients cast.

All of the preceding component parts of the orthopedic appliance 10 are preferably made from aluminum because of its light weight, but any other suitable metal may be used so long as it has comparable strength and is not overly heavy. I

In operation, the orthopedic appliance is assembled by first adjusting the length of the longitudinal bar members 12 to the desired length and securing them in position by nuts 16 and bolts 18. Anchor block members 24 are then connected to the longitudinal bar members 12 by inserting the cone members 20 into the tapered sockets 26 of the anchor block members 24.

The anchor bar members 38 are then connected to the anchor block members 24 by inserting the cone members 20 of the anchor bar members 38 into the remaining tapered sockets 26 of the anchor block members 24.

The longer ends of the anchor bar members 38 are imbedded in the patients cast, and then the orthopedic appliance is adjusted into the desired position by rotating the cone members 20 of the longitudinal bar members l2 and of the anchor bar members 38 until the proper position has been reached. The cap screws 28 are then tightened to fix the orthopedic appliance in the desired position.

Thereafter, the position of the orthopedic appliance 10 may be easily unlocked and re-adjusted in a modified position by turning the cap screws 28 counter clockwise with a suitable wrench and then tightening the cap screws 28. The lock nuts 32 permit easy and rapid unlocking of the cone members 20. The construction and operation of the orthopedic appliance 10 permits rotation of the patients trunk and flexions of the patients upper body while at the same time maintaining the desired spatial separation of the patients legs and rotation of the patients pelvis. Moreover, easy and rapid, but secure readjustment of the orthopedic appliance may be accomplished with a minimum of efiort and disturbance of the patient.

Although I have described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is understood that numerous modifications in construction and arrangement of parts may be made within the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

I claim:

1. An orthopedic appliance for orthopedic defects in a patient, comprising:

a pair of longitudinal bar members each having a plurality of spaced openings therein and forming an correcting adjustable connector bar adjustable lengthwise when superimposed on one another and maintained in position by fastening means, said bar members each having a truncated cone-shaped member rigidly mounted at one end of said bar members, each of said cone-shaped members having a longitudinal threaded opening in its top;

a pair of anchor block members, each having two tapered sockets with each of said sockets having their respective longitudinal axes in planes at right angles to each other, each socket having an opening at its bottom receiving a cap screw member,

a pair of generally L-shaped anchor bar members,

each having a truncated cone-shaped member rigidly mounted at one end of each of said anchor bar members, each of said cone-shaped members having a longitudinal threaded opening at its top, each of said anchor bar members having its other end adapted for being embedded into the patients plaster cast:

a lock nut member for each cap screw, said lock nut member being swedged onto the unthreaded grip portion of said cap screw to help unlock the said cone-shaped members when said cap screw is turned counter clockwise:

whereby the orthopedic appliance may be easily and rapidly rotatably adjusted and maintained in a position suitable to correct said orthopedic defects.

2. An orthopedic appliance according to claim 1 in which the taper of the cone-shaped members ranges from a minimum of three degrees to a maximum of seven degrees from the vertical. 

1. An orthopedic appliance for correcting orthopedic defects in a patient, comprising: a pair of longitudinal bar members each having a plurality of spaced openings therein and forming an adjustable connector bar adjustable lengthwise when superimposed on one another and maintained in position by fastening means, said bar members each having a truncated cone-shaped member rigidly mounted at one end of said bar members, each of said cone-shaped members having a longitudinal threaded opening in its top; a pair of anchor block members, each having two tapered sockets with each of said sockets having their respective longitudinal axes in planes at right angles to each other, each socket having an opening at its bottom receiving a cap screw member; a pair of generally L-shaped anchor bar members, each having a truncated cone-shaped member rigidly mounted at one end of each of said anchor bar members, each of said cone-shaped members having a longitudinal threaded opening at its top, each of said anchor bar members having its other end adapted for being embedded into the patient''s plaster cast: a lock nut member for each cap screw, said lock nut member being swedged onto the unthreaded grip portion of said cap screw to help unlock the said cone-shaped members when said cap screw is turned counter clockwise: whereby the orthopedic appliance may be easily and rapidly rotatably adjusted and maintained in a position suitable to correct said orthopedic defects.
 2. An orthopedic appliance according to claim 1 in which the taper of the cone-shaped members ranges from a minimum of three degrees to a maximum of seven degrees from the vertical. 